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International Child Care Models - Australia

There are three factors that will determine a family's level of Child Care Subsidy. These are:

Family Income

Activity Test – the activity level of both parents

Type of child care service

The Child Care Subsidy is paid directly to service providers to be passed on to families as a fee reduction. Families will make a co-contribution to their child care fees and pay to the provider the difference between the fee charged and the subsidy amount.

a $25 family hourly rate cap (this is the total amount per hour that the government will provide a subsidy for, but providers are free to set their own rates. The percentage of the subsidy to which the family is entitled will be based on the family’s combined adjusted taxable income, and will be up to 85 per cent of the actual fee charged or 85 per cent of the family hourly rate cap, whichever is lower. Families are required to pay the remainder of the fee.)

qualification requirement for educators – as a minimum, Certificate III in a relevant course

3,000 spaces capped nationally

the introduction of In Home Care Support Agencies

a maximum of five children to be cared for by an educator.

Curriculum - learning frameworks

Under the National Law and Regulations, services are required to base their educational program on an approved learning framework. There are 2 nationally approved learning frameworks which outline practices that support and promote children’s learning:

The National Quality Standard provides quality benchmarks for child care programs. Programs are marked and assessed against this standard and given a rating, accordingly.

Child care operators can set their own operational hours and services provided, but must fit within the regulations and quality standard. They must also provide curriculum which follows one of the learning frameworks.